Electrical connector having improved grounding terminals

ABSTRACT

A male connector ( 10 ) includes first and second individual housing portions ( 28, 30 ) engaging with each other, a number of printed substrates ( 16 ) held by the first housing portion and a number of signal contacts ( 18 ) and a number of grounding terminals ( 20 ) held by the second housing portion with the signal contacts confronting the grounding terminals. Each printed substrate has a first edge ( 108 ) and a second edge ( 110 ) orthogonal with the first edge. The first edges of the printed substrates are hidden behind corresponding lead-in bars ( 44 ) of the first housing portion and the second edges of the printed substrates are sandwiched between and floatingly held by the signal contacts and the grounding terminals. The second edges are pushed toward the signal contacts because the grounding terminals are somewhat stronger than the signal contacts. A female connector ( 12 ) mateable with the male connector includes a dielectric member ( 22 ) and a number of signal contacts ( 24 ) and a number of grounding terminals ( 26 ) retained in the dielectric member in face-to-face relationship. The signal contacts straddle on a bottom surface ( 128 ) of the dielectric member. The male and the female connectors have a guiding means for guiding the connectors to correctly mate with each other.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continued-in-part (CIP) application ofpatent application Ser. No. 09/746,088, filed on Dec. 21, 2000, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,390,857 and a Co-pending Application of patent applicationSer. No. 10/150,638, entitled “ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING PRINTEDSUBSTRATES THEREIN ELECTRICALLY CONTACTING CONDUCTIVE CONTACTS THEREOFBY SOLDERLESS”, invented by the same inventors as this patentapplication; Ser. No. 10/150,345, entitled “ELECTRICAL CONNECTORASSEMBLY HAVING IMPROVED GUIDING MEANS”, invented by the same inventorsas this patent application; and Ser. No. 10/150,459, entitled“ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING IMPROVED CONTACTS”, invented by TimothyBrain Billman, all assigned to the same assignee and filed on the samedate with this application. U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,508 is also relatedhereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a connector, and particularly to an electricalconnector having grounding terminals securely assembled to an insulativemember of the connector and reliably engage with elements of a matingconnector.

2. Description of the Related Art

Fleck Research, the worldwide leader in information technology andmarket intelligence, announced an article, entitled “A View from theBackplane”, on Jan. 07, 2002 at the website,http://wwwfleckresearch.com/news/en_(—) 99-10-18.htm. This articleintroduced some backplane connectors, for example, Teradyne and Molex'sHDM (High Density Metric) family of 2.0 mm connectors, FCI's (Berg)Metral HB connectors, FCI's new HMHS (Hard Metric High Speed) connectorand AMP's Z-PACK HS3 connector. These connectors have common features ofhigh-density, high-speed and strict demand for impedance and crosstalkcontrol.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,171,115 and 6,267,604, both issued to Tyco ElectronicsCorporation, each disclose a backplane connector including a dielectrichousing and a plurality of circuit boards held in the housing. Thehousing includes a front housing and an organizer engaging with thefront housing. Each circuit board provides a plurality of conductivetracks extending from a mating interface thereof to a mounting edgethereof. The mating interface extends beyond the front housing to matewith a mating connector. The mounting edge is secured with conductiveterminals by soldering before the mounting edge and the terminals areinserted in slots of the organizer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,047, issued toBerg Technology, Inc., discloses an alternate backplane connectorincluding a connector body of dielectric material and a plurality ofintegrated PCB modules arranged parallel, side-by-side inserted to theconnector body. Each PCB module includes a pair of substrates, aplurality of terminals soldered onto an inner surface of each substrateand an insulating spacer sandwiched between the inner surfaces of thesubstrates. U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,469, issued to Hon Hai Precision Ind.Co., Ltd. discloses a similar backplane connector that the contacts aresoldered to printed circuit boards. These connectors have severaldisadvantages. First, it requires a step of soldering the contacts tothe substrates by Surface Mounting Technology (SMT). The SMT requiresexpensive machine, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of theconnectors. Second, when the substrates, which are originally designedfor signal transmission are required to be replaced by substrates forpower transmission, the substrates together with the contacts must bediscarded. This is not economy. Third, there is no means for guidingcontacts of a mating connector to engage with the mating surface of thesubstrates. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that noble metal platedon contacting portions of the signal contacts may wear off due to theirwiping action against the corners of the edge of the substrate.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,293,827 and 6,174,202, both issued to Teradyne Inc.,U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,955, issued to Berg Technology Inc., and U.S. Pat.No. 6,299,484, issued to Framatome Connectors International (FCI), eachdisclose a backplane connector having a plurality of contacts stampedand formed from metal ribs. Each contact has a mating end for engagingwith a contact of a mating connector and a mounting end for mounting toa mother board. These contacts are relatively long and manufacturedcostly.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,321, issued to Teradyne Inc., and U.S. Pat. No.6,220,896, issued to Berg technology Inc., each disclose a backplaneconnector including a plate between every two rows of signal contacts.One of the disadvantages of these backplane connectors is that thegrounding plate has no spring arm for reliably contacting acorresponding grounding element of a mating connector. So, disconnectionmay happen between the grounding plate of this backplane connector andthe grounding element of the mating connector. Hence, an improvedelectrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of theprior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide an electricalconnector having a plurality of grounding terminals which can besecurely attached to an insulative member of the electrical connectorand can be reliably engage with grounding elements of a matingconnector.

To obtain the above objective, an electrical connector assemblycomprises a male connector mountable to a first printed circuit board, afemale connector mountable to a second printed circuit board and aguiding means for guiding the male connector to mate with the femaleconnector correctly. The male connector includes first and secondindividual housing portions engageable with each other, a plurality ofsubstrates held between the first and the second housing portions and aplurality of signal contacts and a plurality of grounding terminalsattached to the second housing portion in face-to-face relationship.Each substrate has a plurality of first conductive pads adjacent a firstedge thereof and a plurality of second conductive pads adjacent a secondedge thereof which is orthogonal with the first edge. The first housingportion provides a plurality of wedge-shaped lead-in bars in front ofthe substrates for guiding contacts of the female connector to contactcorresponding first conductive pads of the substrates. The second edgesof the substrates extend out of the first housing portion into thesecond housing portion to be removeably sandwiched between correspondsignal contacts and corresponding grounding terminals.

The female connector includes a dielectric member having a plurality ofelongate wafers and defining a channel between every two adjacentwafers, a plurality of signal contacts and a plurality of groundingterminals received in the channels with each grounding terminalconfronting several signal contacts. Each grounding terminal has fourretention latches and eight contacting arms at one side thereof and fivetail portions at an opposite side thereof. The contacting arms arearranged in four pairs and in each pair there is a retention latch. Eachretention latch has a cap portion at a top end thereof attached to thedielectric member, thereby securely retaining the grounding terminals tothe dielectric member. The contacting arms are configured to engage withgrounding elements of the male connector while the tail portions areconfigured to electrically contact corresponding conductive pads on thesecond printed circuit board. In a preferred embodiment, the contactingarms of the grounding terminals are somewhat stronger than thecontacting portions of the signal contacts, so that the substrates ofthe male connector sandwiched by the contacting arms of the groundingmembers and the contacting portions of the signal contacts of the femaleconnector are pushed by the contacting arms toward the contactingportions to reliably achieve an electrical connection between thecontacting portions of the signal contacts of the female connector andthe second conductive pads of the substrates of the male connector.Retention portions of the signal contacts each define a slot such thatthe retention portions may straddle upon corresponding protrusions on abottom surface of the dielectric member.

The guiding means includes a pair of frames, which define a chamberbetween each frame and an outmost lead-in bar of the first housingportion, at opposite ends of the first housing portion and a pair ofguiding posts at opposite ends of the dielectric member. The guidingposts are received in corresponding chambers before the first housingportion engages with the dielectric member for guiding the maleconnector to mate with the female connector. Each frame provides twoguiding keys unsymmetrically located in an inner surface thereof andeach guiding post defines two guiding cuts in accordance with theguiding keys. The male connector can only mate with the female connectorwhen the guiding keys are accommodated by corresponding guiding cuts,thereby providing a function to prevent the two connectors fromerroneously mating with each other.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description of thepresent embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of a male connector and a femaleconnector respectively mounted onto a first and a second printed circuitboards (PCBs);

FIG. 2 is a front-top perspective view of the male connector mounted onthe first PCB;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of first and second housingportions of the male connector;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are enlarged sections of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a rear-top perspective view of the first housing portion inFIG. 3;

FIGS. 6A-6C are enlarged perspective views of signal contacts of themale connector in three embodiments;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a grounding terminal of themale connector;

FIGS. 8A-8B are opposite perspective views of a substrate of the maleconnector;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a section of the second housingportion and the substrates attached to the second housing portion;

FIG. 10 is a top-front perspective view of the female connector mountedon the second PCB;

FIGS. 11A-11B are enlarged top and bottom perspective views of a sectionof the female connector in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a section of the assemblyof the male and the female connectors;

FIGS. 13A-13B are perspective views of the assembly of the male andfemale connectors taken from different perspectives, wherein thehousings are removed to clearly show the engagement of the substrateswith the signal contacts and the grounding terminals; and

FIG. 14 is a top planar view of a PCB of an alternative embodiment ofthis invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, 6A-8B and 10, an electrical connector assembly 1of the present invention includes a male connector 10 mounted on a firstprinted circuit board (PCB) 3 and a female connector 12 mounted on asecond PCB 5. The male connector 10 includes an insulative housing 14, aplurality of substrates 16 and a plurality of signal contacts 18 andgrounding terminals 20 received in the housing 14. The female connector12 includes an insulative housing 22, a plurality of signal contacts 24and grounding terminals 26 received in the housing 22.

Referring to FIGS. 3-9, the housing 14 includes first and secondindividual housing portions 28, 30 engageable with each other. The firsthousing portion 28 has a front surface 32 for mating with the femaleconnector 12, a rear surface 34 and a lower surface 36 in orthogonalwith the rear surface 34. The first housing portion 28 defines aplurality of passageways 38 through the rear surface 34, the lowersurface 36 and terminating at the front surface 32. The first housingportion 28 provides a row of blocks 40 on a top section of the rearsurface 34 and two guiding ribs 42 near opposite ends of the row ofblocks 40. The guiding ribs 42 downwardly extend throughout the heightof the rear surface 34 for guiding the first housing portion 28 toaccurately engage with the second housing portion 30. The first housingportion 28 further provides a plurality of lead-in bars 44 near thefront surface 32. Each lead-in bar 44 is wedge-shaped in cross-sectionfor facilitating mating with the female connector 12. Each lead-in bar44 provides three branches 46 rearwardly extending into a correspondingpassageway 38 for securing the substrates 16 in the passageways 38 ofthe first housing portion 28, respectively. The first housing portion 28again defines a row of notches 48 (FIG. 5) in a middle surface 50thereof between and parallel with the front and the rear surfaces 32, 34for purpose disclosed in detail below.

The second housing portion 30 has a generally sofa-like shape, andincludes a rectangular base portion 52 defining a plurality of channels54 in an upper surface 56 thereof, a backrest portion 58 upwardlyextending from a rear edge of the upper surface 56 of the base portion52 and two elongate stand-offs 60 depending on front and rear edges of abottom surface 62 of the base portion 52. Between every two nearchannels 54 there is an elongate wafer 64 which defines four recesses 66in the upper surface 56 and provides an embossment 68 in each recess 66.The base portion 52 provides a row of blocks 70 on a front face 72thereof for being engageably received in corresponding notches 48 of thefirst housing portion 28. The backrest portion 58 defines a row ofnotches 74 in a top end 76 thereof for engageably receivingcorresponding blocks 40 and two guiding tracks 78 at opposite sideportions 80 thereof for receiving the guiding ribs 42 of the firsthousing portion 28.

The signal contact 18 includes a contacting portion 82 for mating withthe substrate 16 and a tail portion 84 for mating with the first PCB 3.The contacting portion 82 offsets a predetermined distance from the tailportion 84 in a traverse direction of the signal contact 18 (FIG. 9).The tail portion 84 is a press-fit tail for engageably inserting into acorresponding plated hole 86 of the first PCB 3. A signal contact 18′according to a second embodiment has an inclined tail portion 84′ forpressing against a corresponding conductive pad 88 of a first PCB 3′according to a second embodiment (FIG. 14) of the present invention. Asignal contact 18″ according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention includes a contacting portion 82″ having two spring arms 90, apress-fit tail portion 84″ and an inclined retention portion 92 betweenthe contacting portion 82″ and the tail portion 84″. The retentionportion 92 defines a slot 94 and has a bearing surface 95 so that it maystraddle upon a protrusion on a bottom surface of the second housingportion 30, which is not clearly shown in the drawings but may be knownby referring to the female connector 12 as is shown in FIG. 11B.

The grounding terminal 20 includes an elongate base portion 96, fivepress-fit tail portions 98 downwardly extending from a lower side of thebase portion 96 and four retention latches 100 and eight contacting arms102 upwardly extending from an upper side of the base portion 96. Besideopposite sides of each retention latch 100, there are two contactingarms 102. Each retention latch 100 is generally 7-shaped and has a capportion 104 at a top end thereof. The cap portion 104 defines an opening106 for receiving a corresponding embossment 68 of the second housingportion 30. The substrate 16 provides a first row of first gold fingers112 on opposite surfaces near a first edge 108 thereof, a second row ofsecond gold fingers 114 on the opposite surfaces near a second edge 110thereof and a plurality of traces 116 connecting the first gold fingers112 to corresponding second gold fingers 114. The first row isperpendicular to the second row. The substrate 116 defines three grooves118 in the first edge 108 for engageably receiving correspondingbranches 46 of a corresponding lead-in bar 44.

Upon the assembling of the male connector 10, the substrates 16 areinserted into corresponding passageways 38 of the first housing portion28 from the rear surface 34 toward the front surface 32. The first edge108 of each substrate 16 is hidden behind a corresponding lead-in bar 44with the grooves 118 thereof engageably receiving corresponding branches46. The second edge 110 of each substrate 16 partially extendsdownwardly beyond the lower surface 36 with the second gold fingers 114exposing out of the first housing portion 28. The signal contacts 18 andthe grounding terminals 20 are inserted into corresponding channels 54of the second housing portion 30 with eight signal contacts 18 lying inone side of the channel 54 and one grounding terminal 20 lying in anopposite side of the channel 54 such that the signal contacts 18confront the grounding terminal 20. The cap portion 104 of the groundingterminal 20 is received in a corresponding recess 66 with the opening106 thereof fixedly receiving a corresponding embossment 68, therebyattaching the grounding terminals 20 to the first housing portion 28.The first housing portion 28 together with the substrates 16 are thenassembled to the second housing portion 30 such that the second edges110 of the substrates 16 are received in corresponding channels 54 ofthe second housing portion 30. The contacting portions 82 of the signalcontacts 18 and the contacting arms 102 of the grounding terminals 20wipe along and electrically contact corresponding second gold fingers114 of the substrates 16. The second edge 110 of the substrate 16 issandwiched between the contacting portions 82 of the signal contacts 18and the contacting arms 102 of the grounding terminal 20. The contactingarms 102 are somewhat stronger than the contacting portions 82 such thatthe second edge 110 is pushed by the contacting arms 102 toward thecontacting portions 82 to ensure electrical connections between thesecond gold fingers 114 and the contacting portions 82 of the signalcontacts 18 (FIG. 9 and FIGS. 13A-13B).

Referring to FIGS. 10, 11A and 11B, the housing 22 of the femaleconnector 12 provides a plurality of elongate wafers 120 and defines aplurality of channels 122 each between two near wafers 120. Each channel122 receives eight signal contacts 24 and a grounding terminal 26 atopposite sides thereof. The signal contact 24 and the grounding terminal26 of the female connector 12 are respectively similar to the signalcontact 18 and the grounding terminal 20 of the male connector 10 instructure but different in dimensions. The signal contact of the femaleconnector 12 may have three different constructions, designatedrespectively by 24, 24′ 24″, in accordance with the three constructionsof the signal contact 18, 18′, 18″ of the male connector 10. The housing22 provides a pair of elongate stand-offs 124 and a pair of guidingpoles 126 (only one is shown in FIG. 11B) on a bottom surface 128thereof. The housing 22 further provides a plurality of protrusions 130on the bottom surface 128. The signal contact 24 includes an inclinedretention portion 132 having a pair of ribs 134 and defining a slot 136between the ribs 134. The retention portion 132 straddles on theprotrusion 130 with the ribs 134 engageably sandwiching the protrusion130 and a bearing surface 135 thereof bears against a tip of theprotrusion 130, thereby preventing the signal contact 24 from movinginto the housing 22 when the female connector 12 is mounted onto thesecond printed circuit board 5. This design can also be applied to themale connector 3.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13A, 13B, when the male connector 10 mateswith the female connector 12, the wedged lead-in bars 44 of the maleconnector 10 push the contacting portions of corresponding signalcontacts 24 and the contacting arms of corresponding grounding terminals26 to move away from each other so that they may smoothly slide toelectrically contact corresponding first gold fingers 112 without wipingagainst corners of the first edges 108 of the substrates 16. Therefore,a disadvantage that noble metal plated on the contacting portions 82 ofthe signal contacts may wear off due to their wiping action against thecorners of the edge of the substrate 16 can be prevented in the presentinvention. The tail portions 84, 98 of the signal contacts 18 and tailportions (not labeled) of the grounding terminals 20 of the maleconnector 10 arranged in a same row are inserted into a same row ofplated holes 86 of the first PCB 3. So does the female connector 12.

Referring to FIG. 14, in accordance with the signal contacts 18′ of thesecond embodiment, the first PCB 3′ of the second embodiment providesfive rows of plated through-holes 86′ and four pairs of rows ofconductive pads 88, each pair being located between every two near rowsof plated through-holes 86′. When the male connector 10 is mounted ontothe first PCB 3′, the tail portions 98 are received in correspondingthrough-holes 86′ by press-fit while the tail portions 84′ of the signalcontacts 18′ electrically contact corresponding conductive pads 88 by adepressing force acting on the tail portions 84′.

As is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 10, the connector assembly 1 includes apair of guiding means 138 at opposite sides thereof for guiding the maleconnector 10 to correctly mate with the female connector 12. Eachguiding means 138 includes a frame 140 at each side of the first housingportion 28 and a chamber 142 between the frame 140 and an near lead-inbar 44. The frame 140 provides two guiding keys 144 located on an innersurface 146 thereof and extending in a front-to-rear direction. Eachguiding means 138 also includes a guiding post 148 at each side of thehousing 22 with a wedged top portion 150 extending beyond a top face ofthe housing 22. The guiding post 148 defines two guiding cuts 152unsymmetrically in an outer surface 154 thereof, located correspondingto the guiding keys 144. When the male connector 10 mates with thefemale connector 12, the wedged top portions 150 are first inserted intocorresponding chambers 142 and the guiding keys 144 are received incorresponding guiding cuts 152 before the lead-in bars 44 touch thehousing 22, the signal contacts 24 and the grounding terminals 26. Whenthe guiding posts 148 are wholly received in the corresponding chambers142, the male connector 10 securely mates with the female connector 12.

Comparing with the prior arts, this invention has a lot of advantages.First, since the substrates 16 are removeably held in the first housingportion 28, it is very convenient to replace any one of the substrates16 with other device for a different function, for example, fortransmitting power. When selected substrates are replaced by otherdevices for transmitting power, corresponding signal contacts and/orgrounding terminals of the male and the female connectors 10, 12 arecorrespondingly used to transmit power. Second, since the first edges108 of the substrates 16 are covered by the lead-in bars 44, platednoble metal on the contacting portions 82 of the signal contacts 18 canobtain a better protection against wearing. Third, the elongategrounding terminals 20 each are attached to the second housing portion30 by four retention latches 100, the grounding terminals 20 can besecurely attached to the second housing portion 30. Fourth, since thesubstrates 16 are pushed by the grounding terminals 20 toward the signalcontacts 18, secure electrical connections are established between theconductive pads 114 and the contacting portions 82 of the signalcontacts 18.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerouscharacteristics and advantages of the present invention have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrativeonly, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape,size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention tothe full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms inwhich the appended claims are expressed.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrical connector comprising: a dielectrichousing member having a mating portion adapted for confronting a matingdevice and a mounting portion adapted for confronting a printed circuitboard (PCB); a conductive signal contact assembled to the housing memberadapted for engaging with a signal trace of the mating device; and aconductive grounding terminal assembled to the housing member, thegrounding terminal including at least one retention latch having a firstend fixedly attached to the mating portion of the housing member and atleast one contacting arm beside the at least one retention latch, the atleast one contacting are being deflectable adapted for electricallycontacting a conductive grounding element of the mating device, the atleast one retention latch having a cap portion at the first end thereof,the cap portion defining an opening and the mating portion of thehousing member providing an embossment engageably received in theopening of the cap portion.
 2. The electrical connector as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the at least one retention latch is generally 7-shaped.3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the groundingterminal includes at least one tail portion extending in a directionaway from the at least one contacting arm thereof for mounting to thePCB.
 4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 3, wherein thegrounding terminal includes a pair of contacting arms beside oppositesides of the at least one retention latch.
 5. The electrical connectoras claimed in claim 3, wherein the grounding terminal includes fourretention latched parallelly extending from an elongate base portionthereof in a predetermined direction, four pairs of contacting arms witheach pair being located beside opposite sides of a correspondingretention latch, and five tail portions parallelly extending from theelongate base portion in a direction away from the contacting arms.
 6. Aconductive terminal for an electrical connector comprising: an elongatebase portion; at least one retention latch extending from the baseportion on a predetermined direction, the at least one retention latchbeing generally 7-shaped and having a cap portion at a free end thereof,the cap portion defining an opening adapted for engageably attaching toan insulative member of the electrical connector; at least onecontacting arm extending from the base portion and located beside the atleast one retention latch, the at least one contacting arm having acontacting end distant from the base portion adapted for electricallycontacting a conductive element of a mating electrical connector, and atleast one tail portion extending from the base portion in a directionaway from the at least one contacting arm for mounting to a conductiveelement of a printed circuit board.
 7. The conductive terminal asclaimed in claim 6 being stamped and formed from a metal sheet.
 8. Theconductive terminal as claimed in claim 6 comprising a pair ofcontacting arms beside opposite sides of the at least one retentionlatch.
 9. The conductive terminal as claimed is claim 6 comprising fourretention latched parallelly extending from the base portion, four pairsof contacting arms with each pair being located beside opposite sides ofa corresponding retention latch, and five tail portions parallellyextending from the base portion in the direction away from thecontacting arm.
 10. An electrical connector, comprising: a dielectrichousing having a first end adapted for engaging with a complementaryconnector, a second end opposite the first end adapted for engaging witha printed circuit board and at least a channel between the first and thesecond ends; a signal contact received in a first side of the channel;and a grounding terminal received in a second side of the channelopposite the first side, the grounding terminal having a base portion, aretention latch extending from the base portion and securely engagingwith the first end of the housing, a contacting arm extending from thebase portion adapted for electrically engaging with the complementaryconnector, and a tail portion extending from the base portion adaptedfor engaging with the printed circuit board.
 11. The electricalconnector as claimed in claim 10, wherein the retention latch defines anopening and the first end of the housing provides an embossment engagingreceived in the opening of the retention latch.